


An Artist's Perspective on the Xigbar Reveal

by violethowler



Series: Kingdom Hearts III Meta [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Analysis, Essay, Gen, Meta, Nonfiction, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts III, analyzing character and keyblade designs from an art and story perspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-24 02:36:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17696015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violethowler/pseuds/violethowler
Summary: SPOILERS FOR KINGDOM HEARTS IIIThe reveal of Xigbar's true agenda in Kingdom Hearts III struck a chord with me as an artist: something about the way that the character and his "new" weapon were designed in such a way that it felt right seeing it in Xigbar's hand. So I looked back at all I know about character design to outline just why this reveal clicks so well.





	An Artist's Perspective on the Xigbar Reveal

**Author's Note:**

> If you're reading this, I'm assuming you've already finished Kingdom Hearts III or else spoiled yourself on the epilogue and know about the reveal that Xigbar was Luxu all along. As an art student, I get a giddy feeling every time I watch that scene, as if something wrong has finally been made right. I couldn't put my finger on it at first before I started to think about it from the perspective of character and prop design, and everything fell into place. Enjoy my musings on the visual foreshadowing of Xigbar reclaiming the No Name.

Now, I know the fandom likes to joke that Nomura writes by the seat of his pants but given that Birth by Sleep was in the works when Kingdom Hearts II came out, I’m convinced that the Xigbar is Luxu reveal was planned all along. There is one simple reason why I believe that whatever else was improvised or not, Xigbar’s immortality was planned: the design of his Keyblade. I’m studying animation in college, and character design is a prerequisite course to graduate. One of the things I was taught is that every prop designed for a specific character needs to have a connection to their role in the story.

Looking at back at Birth by Sleep, there’s a common theme in all the character designs: for every Keyblade Wielder we see in the game, the color palette of their Keyblade matches the color palette of their outfit. Aqua. Ventus. Terra. Eraqus. Even Vanitas’ Keyblade both in-story and in his Remnant bonus boss form matches the color scheme of his outfit. Out of seven Keyblade Wielders in BBS, the only two that don’t fit this pattern are Master Xehanort and Mickey Mouse.

Mickey is easy to explain. Even if all the details in the story didn’t straight-up imply it, the design of the Star Seeker is blatantly evocative of the iconic pointed cap worn by Yen Sid in the games and that pop culture associates with Mickey’s Fantasia outfit. So even if it doesn’t directly match the color palette of any of his outfits, it never clashes with them because its design creates the impression that he’s wielding his most iconic headgear in Keyblade form.  

Xehanort on the other hand, has no such exceptions. While he certainly made the effort to dress all in black, the fact that he had white and red underneath his coat meant that in theory, his Keyblade should have had been designed with those two colors worked into the concept art somewhere. Instead of black with silver accents, there should have been more of a blanace between black and white with some red mixed into the design. But those colors were never worked into the design of the blade, because it wasn’t originally his to begin with. Even before the added cutscenes of the HD 2.5 Remix confirmed it, the character designs of Birth by Sleep were telegraphing that No Name wasn’t the Keyblade that Xehanort had started out with.

In a game where almost every other Keyblade matched the color palette of its owner’s wardrobe, and the only exception was a Disney character whose Keyblade complemented their outfit colors by calling back to their most iconic attire from Disney media, the clash between the designs of Xehanort’s outfit and his Keyblade sticks out.

But Xigbar is another story. Seeing him with the No Name in his hand at the epilogue of Kingdom Hearts III struck a chord in me as an artist. Something that fundamentally shouted into the void for anyone with the artistic or design sense to see that the creative team behind Kingdom Hearts has specifically made this weapon with Xigbar in mind. Popular fanfics and fan art of Xigbar/Braig with a Keyblade have depicted one matching the color palette of his guns, but when you compare the silver-gray highlights on the No Name with the similar streaks in Xigbar’s hair, and the way the black coat of the Organization meshes with the black of the No Name, it’s clear that _this_ Keyblade was intentionally designed to be Xigbar’s Keyblade from the start.


End file.
